The defiant mate by Fennifer Francis novel Chapter 5

Jay-la POV

It had taken all her courage to call, she had already decided to call Beta Jackson’s number, not the packhouse number, she just couldn’t bare talking to him at this point. It had been 6 long years and she still could see in her mind’s eye, the anger in his eyes, feel the order he’d driven into her, pain tinged her chest and she rubbed it absently trying to make it go away.

She had spent the day staring at the number, it was almost 5pm. The deadline was approaching. Tony and Lauren had agreed to take the triplets for a few days while she went away on a business trip ‘thank the goddess for them,’ she sent a blessing to the goddess for them. They may be human but they were a goddess sent gift to her as far as she was concerned.

Sitting in her office chair, she dialled Jackson’s number from the bottom of the letter, Jackson’s smooth soft voice practically purred down the line at her, calm and collected, not a care in the world it seemed. She knew differently having grown up with him. That was just how he portrayed himself.

The anger and rage she heard from Alpha Nathan as he yelled out an order, she had never thought he would ever be capable of directing towards her ‘Send the worst of the worst’ fear had streaked through her right to the core of her being. Kora whimpered at this too, a fearful gasp escaped her lips and she disconnected the line instantly. Stared down at her mobile phone in horror as every fibre in her body screamed at her to run and run now and never look back. Kora did not argue with her at all.

He was still so angry with her, so much anger that it felt more like he completely and utterly hated her, how could he after their life-long friendship and love affair, could he just ignore 20 years of friendship and turn on her so easily.

Just 1 slap and that was it. Everything they’d shared gone just like that. For him, only his Luna mattered to him. Not his friendships, not the one with her anyway.

She stared at her phone as it rang. She saw the number knew it was Jackson and hit the reject call button. She stood and balled her fists, she was nothing to him after everything, just nothing. Jay-la slammed her fist down onto the phone with all her wolf strength, the phone shattered and shards went flying everywhere. ‘time to go’ she muttered more to herself than anything. She picked up her brief case and headed home.

She would tell her pups they were going on vacation and get on the first flight out of the country. They all had passports, had been overseas a few times on vacation, Singapore was nice and hardly ever saw wolves there. That could be an option. She would have to find a place that was more suited to Kora. She had suffered a lot not being able to shift so much due to living in the city all the time and staying away from anything Wolfen Society and rogue territory was out of the question to run in. That was too dangerous, no matter how fast Kora was, it was not a risk either of them were willing to take up, as it could leave they pups as orphans in the human world.

It was a long drive home from the office, over an hour now, that she had moved further away. The commute meant dealing with peak hour traffic. The only thing in her favour right this minute was that she was on the other side of the country from him, her Alpha. So it would give her time to pack and get away, at least 10 to 12 hours, he’d have to book his men on a flight and organise transport.

Jay-la would be long gone by then, this was it, no going back now. She would have to completely sever ties with the pack this time, but she would wait to do it until they were at the airport, too many scents for him to track at an airport and once she went rogue, he would no longer be able to track that particular scent that belonged to his pack, a scent that even now he could use to track her.

‘it’s going to hurt us’

‘I know, but what else can we do…the worst of the worst Kora, that means the men coming, whoever he sends can do whatever they want to us with no repercussions.’

she felt Kora shudder with disgust herself ‘I’ll kill any one that thinks they can touch us jay-la.’

‘I know we’ll try, but…’ they both knew they would be out numbered most likely, and though she had trained all her life and still did once a week, the men that would be coming would likely be twice her size and train every day. They would have a sick sadistic side where pain was what they enjoyed inflicting, her fighting back would only incite them even more.

Jay-la parked her car outside the front of the building instead of in the secure car park. She was only going to be home long enough to pack each of them a suitcase and grab their passports, an hour tops, hopefully even less than that.

She got out of the car, lost in her thoughts of getting away and where to go, once she was a rogue there was no turning back, so choosing a place that had no wolves was probably a good idea, so a country that had no natural wolf population would be best. Other shifters wouldn’t bother her as long as she was of no threat to them.

Somewhere out of the way, somewhere small, somewhere with a nice forest for Kora and her children when they grew up and could shift and run freely, she could use her degree to get a job. Contract law was always in demand if she couldn’t pick up divorce law, and seeing as she spoke 3 languages, any of those countries would be good. So, even if not Law, she could go for a translator job with any corporation. That would be an advantage.

The cloth that covered her mouth as suddenly as the fierce grip around her waist as she was yanked backwards against a hard body startled her, so in her thoughts was she that she hadn’t seen, heard or smelled anything out of the ordinary. The sharp intake of her breath when she’d been startled meant the chloroform had been in haled deeply, making her fuzzy around the edges of her vision. Kora snarled instantly in her mind and as her claws were ripping from Jay-la’s finger tips ready to fight, there was a sharp sting to the left side of her neck and burning like fire started flooding through her into her veins, “ No” she tried to scream, but already the darkness was rushing at her, enveloping her. Her worst fear now coming true, her last thought before the darkness claimed her completely ‘my babies, I’m sorry.’

…

Her eyes were still heavy, she was so tired, and trying to open her eyes felt like the hardest thing in the world to do. It took several minutes before she could hold them open and focus on her surroundings. She appeared to be lying down on her right side, barely able to move, she could feel her arms bound behind her, ‘Kora’ she tried reaching for her wolf, got nothing, couldn’t feel her at all, couldn’t even sense her the tiniest bit.

Drugged with wolfs-bane, no access to her wolf and the burning sensation coming from her wrists meant silver cuffs, she was now as helpless as a human. There was no help for her at this point in time. She took a deep breath, tried to take in the situation. She was lying on what appeared to be the floor of a moving van, she was still wearing her clothes and there was no pain between her legs to say she had been assaulted while unconscious. Thank the goddess for that, not that she wanted to be awake for it. But how long she had been out, a few hours, the night, 24hours or more, she had no idea.

The triplets had been with their nanny. How long would she wait to call the police and report her missing? Would she stay with the children the whole time or leave them? To many what if’s. Don’t think about it, Suzzy is a great nanny. We pay her well, treat her with respect and she loves the triplets, she’ll stay with them. Jay-la told herself to try and keep herself calm. She had to remain calm. It was a must to survive and find an opportunity to get away.

It was the middle of the week, if she didn’t come home and then didn’t show up for work, someone would call the police and report her missing. The human police might not have much influence in the Wolfen Society, but wolves still had to placate them occasionally.

A foot touched her chest and pushed her onto her back. “Ah you’re awake I see” a gravelly male voice said to her, amusement lacing every word “What did you do, I wonder,” he chuckled at her.

Jay-la stared up at him, it was dark inside the van but she had no idea if it was dark outside or if the van was designed this way so no one could see in. She was only wearing a skirt and blouse, nothing that this wolf would have trouble removing to have his way with her. Her only defence now was her brains and her stiletto’s.

“ Please” she whispered, “I have children”. She was hoping to appeal to his family nature. Wolves were naturally paternal creatures, their mates and offspring meant everything to them, they would die without a thought to protect them. “3 children, please let me go.”

He frowned down at her for a full minute, then shrugged “sorry, paid already”. His voice sounded devoid of emotion all of a sudden, as though he had to cut himself off from his emotions to ignore her pleas.

“ They’re just 5, and no dad.” she pleaded with him,

Again. He frowned, and his eyes were just staring down at her. He was troubled and she knew it, it was working, then he shrugged “not my problem lady.” though he had appeared to be concerned maybe he just wasn’t or the money was too good to pass up.

Then the man was suddenly gone from her, her body dropped to the ground, she was unable to support herself, and her knees buckled under her own weight as she landed on the ground. A fight had started not far away. She could hear it, desperate to draw breath, darkness tinging her vision again, she struggled to stay awake, to push herself up on to her feet, her lungs burned, her entire body ached and pain filled her every move.

Her eyes moved sluggishly to the fighting men, one seemed vaguely familiar to her. She could hear yelling “I told you, no harm to her.”

“My brother is dead, she killed him” the other was yelling back.

Jay-la turned her head as she leaned on the van, finally drawing breath into her lungs properly, the man on the ground was indeed dead, and the one from inside the back of the van with her was sitting cradling his lifeless body, she didn’t really care, those bastards had drugged her, taken her against her will, leaving her precious babies alone and unprotected. Dragging another breath into her lungs, Jay-la took the opportunity, while everyone was distracted to turn and run from everyone, down the road away from the van, away from the wolves.

Surely she could flag down a passing car. In her state someone would stop and help her, covered in blood, multiple injuries and bound. No human would not stop and help a female in such a bloody and dishevelled state.

It was only a few minutes before she was smashed into the ground yet again, pain upon pain, as she took more injuries to her already damaged skin. Her knees had taken some of this fall. She could feel pain coursing through them. 2 wolves pulled her up off the ground onto her feet and started pulling her back the way she had come. She tried to kick out at them but was in too much pain.

They were also bigger and stronger and just kept moving forward, her eyes lifted to the road ahead and fear embedded into her every fibre, she was home, she could see past the van to the big black gates that indicated the front entrance to Blood Moon Pack. The van had stopped a good 300 meters away due to her sudden fighting in the back. The left side of the gate was open, the right still closed, but she could easily recognise the red circle on the closed half of the gate which represented the Blood Moon. What the pack was named after.

Her struggles renewed but were to no avail, as they just gripped and arm each, tighter and tighter and marched her up the road toward the half-open gate and the waiting car she could now see on the other side of the gate. The back door was open and waiting for her.

She noted that the sounds of fighting had stopped, back by the van that had brought her here, tears were still spilling from her eyes, the pain was too much, and then there was her fear of being home, fear of what was to come, if this was just the beginning of it. She didn’t want to think about more pain that was due to her or how it was to be dealt out or by whom. A sob escaped her, she knew who it would be and her heart burned with pain at the thought of it.

Would she ever see her children again?

A hand fell on her left elbow and the 2 men holding her let go instantly. “Nice to see you again, Jay-la” she heard Beta Jackson’s voice wash over her in a soft gentle tone. “I’ll take her from her boys.” He then walked her up the road towards the gate and waiting car, she did not fight him, he had once been one of her closest friends, not anymore. But she could not fight him, there was only 1 or 2 people in the Blood Moon Pack that could take him down one on one and she was not one of them.

Her whole face hurt, her knees were on the verge of buckling under her from the pain, but on she walked, she was covered in wounds, and she did not have Kora to heal her or help ease her pain, she had to simply endure it for as long as they saw fit.

He was staring down at her, she could feel his eyes on her, she kept her eyes lowered to the ground, what could she say to this man to make him let her go and betray his Alpha, his best friend, nothing and she knew it, so she said nothing, just let those silent tears fall down her bloody and ruined face, she must look utterly miserable, which was exactly how she felt too.

She heard him sigh as they got to the car. He put her inside and slid in next to her, then ordered the driver to go straight to the pack house.

Her fate was now sealed, she could only pray to the goddess to protect her babies from harm. She sent up the prayer with all the love she had for her babies.